1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiation image generating system, particularly, to a radiation image generating system for generating a radiation image represented by an X-ray image.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, in a medical diagnosis, a subject is irradiated with a radiation such as an X-ray, and a radiation image obtained by detecting an intensity distribution of the radiation which has penetrated the subject is widely used. In recent years, at the time of performing radiation image generation, a radiation image generating system using a flat panel detector (FPD) for detecting a radiation and converting the detected radiation to electric energy to detect the radiation as radiation image information has been proposed. A scintillator for detecting radiation intensity is mounted on the FPD.
In the radiation image generating system, there is one configured to use an FPD arranged in a radiation image generation room in connection with a predetermined radiation image generating operation control apparatus (controller) such as a personal computer (PC), for controlling radiation image generating operations through predetermined communication lines with an aim of improving the degree of freedom of the system configuration thereof (for example, refer to JP-Tokukai-2003-199736A).
A cassette type FPD containing an FPD in a cassette to improve the carrying property and the handling property of the FPD has been also developed (for example, refer to JP-Tokukaihei-6-342099A). Furthermore, a radiation image generating system in which a cassette type FPD and a radiation image generating operation control apparatus are configured as a system capable of communicating various kinds of information such as radiation image information by a radio system has been also proposed (for example, refer to JP-Tokukai-2003-210444A).
Generally, it is necessary to confirm whether image generation has been performed suitably or not after the image generation, and in the radiation image generating system described above, a radiation image is displayed on a computer. For example, in the above-described radiation image generating system disclosed in JP-Tokukai-2003-199736A, which is configured to connect the FPD and the radiation image generating operation control apparatus with each other through a communication line dedicated for the system, an image generation state can be confirmed by transmitting radiation image information from the FPD to the radiation image generating operation control apparatus, and by displaying reduced images such as thumbnail images produced on the basis of radiation images received by the radiation image generating operation control apparatus on a computer.
However, when the configuration in which the FDP and the radiation image generating operation control apparatus are connected with each other through the communication line dedicated for the system is adopted, the degree of freedom of the system configuration becomes low. Accordingly, it is considerable to build a system by connecting the FDP and the radiation image generating operation control apparatus with each other through an existing network such as Ethernet (registered trademark). However, in this case, communication of radiation image information takes much time, and it is difficult to perform confirmation of an image generation state immediately after the image generation.
Then, in the FPD, a radiation image generating system having a system configuration in which, after producing reduced image information having an information amount less than radiation image information, the produced reduced image information is transmitted to a radiation image generating operation control apparatus, and the reduced image is displayed on a computer has been proposed.
By the way, it has been considered to change the kind and the sensitivity of a scintillator according to the image generation conditions such as the physique of a patient and an image generation region in order to obtain a desired image quality even if the image generation conditions change. In such a case, a plurality of FPDs having scintillators of different kinds and different sensitivities from one another is used. Even though these FPDs are connected through the network described above, the kinds and the sensitivities of the scintillators in the FPDs cannot be recognized on the network when the situation is left as it is. Consequently, there is a possibility that the generation of a radiation image takes much time and the image generation becomes inefficient as a result. In particular, in the cassette type FPD, because the FPD can move if it is on a network, it is supposed that it takes much time to specify the kind and the sensitivity of a scintillator when the situation is left as it is.